THE JOURNEY CONTUNUES

Fans of Dana Chamblee Carpenter's compelling debut novel, The Bohemian Gospel, will find this second installment of the trilogy, The Devil's Bible, something of a hybrid.


The first half alternates chapters between the extraordinary life of heroine, Mouse, in 13th C Prague (picking up exactly where the previous book left off) and a contemporary, globe-spanning chase thriller involving missing medieval manuscript pages, secret societies, sinister priests, and an epic battle between Good and Evil.


But Carpenter amps up the intrigue with the fact that the contemporary heroine is the same Mouse as the outcast healer, manuscript illuminator and purveyor of dark terrifying powers from the first book.


700 years later, she's perpetually on the move; she shuns personal relationships and never stays in one job long enough for anyone to notice that she never ages.


The first book is all about establishing Mouse's character as she comes to grips with her powers and — finally — discovers their source. This backstory is invaluable as Mouse's personal journey continues here, so read the first book first.

In this one, her fractious relationship with her parent, her determination not to give into the dark side of her powers, and her quest for redemption — she even dares to fall in love —  fuel the heart of story.


That said, when the second half of the book goes into full-on Da Vinci Code mode, I wasn't quite as interested. Carpenter writes with urgency, but the demonic assaults and near-death resurrections start to feel a little repetitive.

Page from the real Codex: illuminating

But I found the parent-child debates about the nature of evil fascinating. (And not only because they remind me so much of James Hook's struggle to outgrow the role of villain thrust upon him in Alias Hook!)


Btw, the so-named Devil's Bible is an actual book, The Codex Gigas ("giant book" in Latin), a mysterious 13th C manuscript of mammoth size and unknown origin, with glorious illuminations.


Including the disturbing image of the Devil (above) that Carpenter appropriates for her cover. (Feast your orbs here!)


Carpenter's tale-spinning about the origin and creation of this masterpiece is audacious and satisfying.


Sign me up for the final book in the trilogy, The Book of the Just due out in October!

A HEROINE'S JOURNEY

More time to read means more books to share!

Behold The Bohemian Gospel, by Dana Chamblee Carpenter, an intricate, compelling novel set in 13th Century Prague. (And you know how I feel about Prague!

Dark and despairing in so many ways, the clarity and audacity of this harrowing tale will leave you breathless.

At its center is Mouse, an unbaptized girl for whom no one ever cared enough to give a proper name. Raised in an abbey whose sisterhood she can never be allowed to join, Mouse is a gifted healer who possesses other, more frightening gifts as well.

She's 15 when she saves the life of Ottakar, the "Younger King" of Bohemia;  he's on the brink of death when his men bring him to the abbey from the battlefield. Only a few years older than Mouse, Ottakar rules in an uneasy alliance with his tyrant father.

Whisked off to Prague to aid the recovery of the Younger King, unworldly Mouse struggles to navigate life at court and understand the intense attraction growing between herself and Ottakar — all while trying to solve the puzzle of her birth and the source of her powers.

The seal of the histoical King Ottakar, ca. 1253

Dana Chamblee Carpenter breathes life into Ottakar, the Iron and Golden King, a historical figure who founded cities, created just laws, and sparked an era of prosperity in 13th Century Bohemia when he wasn't busy defending his turf and his people from the armies of rival nobles.

But it's Mouse — both vulnerable and defiant, intelligent and intuitive, in and out of God's favor, yet boldly carving out a place for herself in an unforgiving world — whose journey keeps us turning the pages.

There's a lot to process in this book, plot-wise — including a finale so incendiary, readers might be outraged if we didn't know there was another book (or two) coming to complete the story. Yet the book is such a vivid portrait of the human spirit, in all its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the complexities of its medieval era, that you can't help getting swept along like a current in Vltava River by the drama of these characters' lives.

PS: In Christian lore, "Gospel" means "good news" — ironic, when the central mystery of this book is finally revealed!